Down East magazine, has been publishing since August 1954, and continues as one of Maine's most prominent monthly magazines. Their web site's history page provides the following description:

"The goal of Down East has always been to hold a mirror up to Maine — its storied past and lively present — and to celebrate its flinty, independent character and unhurried way of life. As Maine has changed with the times, however, so has Down East. Today the state has come to embrace its future as well as its past. Accordingly, the magazine now focuses more on contemporary Maine life and what the future might bring and less on historical background and quaint rusticity. Booming circulation and advertising gains demonstrate the wisdom of this editorial shift."

Portland Public Library's collection of Down East is complete, and begins with the first issue, August 1954. The hard copies are available in the Portland Room.

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Submissions from 2017

 

North by East. Down East Dispatches

 

North by East. Friends in High Places, Down East staff writers

 

North by East; Gather Ye Zucchinis

 

North by East. Getting Connected: Can a Make-believe, 500-Mile Subway System Bring Down Easters Together?, Joel Crabtree

 

North by East. History: Psych Out, Andy O’Brien

 

North by East; Home to Roost: For years birdhouses have popped up seemingly out of thin air along a Moscow roadside. Who's making them and why?, Virginia M. Wright and Benjamin Williamson Photographer

 

North by East. L/A L/A Land: Who Wins if Maine's Twin Cities Decide to Merge?, Will Grunewald

 

North by East. Lay of the Land, Murray Carpenter

 

North by East. Loon-y Toons: British Animator Will Rose Draws Inspiration from Eastport's Wildlife, Architecture, and Late-Night Justin Bieber Dance Parties, Brian Kevin

 

North by East. Mr. Lighthouse, Will Grunewald

 

North by East; Off-Season Acquisitions: The baseball season is over, but our national pastime just became a big hit at Colby College, to which 1978 alumnus Kurt Cerulli recently gifted his personal stockpile of rare World Series memorabilia. While Colby figures out how to exhibit its new stash, we asked Cerulli, who considers himself more history buff than rabid fan, for a preview. He picked three of his favorite Fall Classics, gave the highlights of each collection, and explained why the games still resonate today, Will Grunewald

 

North by East; Old Bridge, New Cliques: When is a local landmark worth saving? In Brunswick and Topsham, the fate of the adored by dilapidated Green Bridge has residents at loggerheads., Carly Berlin

 

North by East. Our Favorite Martian (Plot), Virginia M. Wright

 

North by East. Pressed Together: Can an Iraqi Immigrant Build Community With a Newspaper?, Will Grunewald

 

North by East; Prints of the Barnyard: Love the Common Ground Country Fair's annual poster designs? Thank the rural jurors who select them., Will Grunewald

 

North by East. Reflection: Welcome to Portlyn, Now Please Go Home, Ron Currie

 

North by East; Rooms of Their Own: A flurry of homes with famous former owners recently made Maine real-estate news. They're bound by a common literary thread.

 

North by East; Save the U-Haul Depot!: New England historic preservaton isn't just about clapboard and cobblestones anymore, Virginia M. Wright

 

North by East. Sealed with a Dog Kiss: What's a Pair of Maine Pooches Doing on a West African Postage Stamp?, Virginia M. Wright

 

North by East. Split Decision: How Maine Ended Up with its Oddball System for Picking a President -- and Why that System is Better than the Way 48 Other States Do It, Rob Sneddon

 

North by East. Summer Squeeze, Jesse Ellison

 

North by East; Talk of Maine; Reade All About It: Checking in with Maine's "serendipitous" media mogul, Reade Bower, Brian Kevin

 

North by East; Talk of Maine; Storming the Beaches: A noted law professor argues it's high time to overturn a controversial 1989 low-water mark in Maine judicial history, Edgar Allen Beem

 

North by East; The Absent Majority, Will Grunewald

 

North by East. The Bloody Business: How a Physician Assistant in Bridgton became Stephen King's Hippocrates of Horror, Will Grunewald

 

North by East; The Hundred Thousand Foot Club: Each winter, Chris Hayward plays an epic game of King of the Mountain, eschewing chairlifts and racking up as much vertical footage as he can. Who says going down is the fun part?, Jamie Walter Photographer and Jaed Coffin

 

North By East; Town-Gown Reboot: A Century Ago, Waterville Helped Bail Out a Struggling Colby College. Can Colby Return the Favor?, Jesse Ellison

 

North by East; Vacation Man: With his memoir, Vacationland, multi-hyphenate humorist John Hodgman is out to callously insult Maine's beaches, Will Grunewald

 

North by East; What's in a Picture, Will Grunewald

 

North by East; What's in a Picture?, Will Grunewald

 

North by East. What's in a Picture?, Down East staff writers

 

North by East. What's in a Picture?, Down East staff writers

 

North by East. What's in a Picture?, Down East staff writers

 

North by East. What's in a Picture?, Will Grunewald

 

North by East. What's in a Picture?, Will Grunewald

 

North by East. What’s in a Picture?, Will Grunewald

 

Not on Board: In a State that Thrives on Tourism, Why Do Cruise Ships Still Leave So Much Discord in Their Wake?, Will Grunewald

 

Not on Board: In a State that Thrives on Tourism, Why Do Cruise Ships Still Leave So Much Discord in Their Wake?, Will Grunewald

 

Peaceful & Pristine: Residents of Grand Lake Stream Have Safeguarded Thousands of Acres of Forest. Now They're Fighting for Their Community's Future, Caitlin Shetterly and Daniel E. Davis Photographer

 

Peaks Season: For the 900 or so year-round residents of Peaks Island, winter is a time to embrace the quiet, the cold, and the community., Mira Ptacin and Greta Rybus Photographer

 

Prettiest Harbors: It's time to lay anchor. Our pictorial tribute to the eight port towns and peaceful coves we never tire of gazing at

 

Queen of the Kennebec, Virginia M. Wright and Tony Luong, photographer

 

Quiet Splendor: Western Maine's panoramic brilliance attracts all the traffic, but the coasal forests, postcard villages, and vivid blueberry barrens of Down East have their own laid-back luster, Benjamin Williamson

 

Reaping What They Sow, Mary Pols and Tristan Spinski, photographer

 

Retire in Maine: Maine's Retirement Communities, Down East staff writers

 

Sheets, Shoots, & Leaves, Down East staff writers

 

Shop; Mapping a Few of our Favorite Things: The holidays aren't far off, and finding the right Maine gift can be hard. Let us help.

 

Show Business: After her husband died in 2013, Jeanette Gilmore took over Smokey's Greater Shows, an institution on the Maine festival circuit. But in 50+ years of fairgrounds, ferris wheels and a fluctuating workforce, life on the midway hasn't gotten any easier. Welcome to the carnival., Jaed Coffin and Gabe Souza

 

Special Exports, Brian Kevin

 

SuperOrono-ism, Brian Kevin